Axelrod buys $1.7 million Michigan Ave condo

April 17, 2012|By Bob Goldsborough | Special to the Tribune

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former presidential adviser David Axelrod take in a Bulls game. Read more (Nuccio DiNuzzo/ Chicago Tribune)

Longtime political strategist David Axelrod, who helped advise President Obama's presidential run in 2008 and is serving as communications director for Obama's re-election campaign, has paid $1.7 million for a four-bedroom, 3,320-square-foot condo unit in a high-rise condo along Michigan Avenue.

Axelrod, 57, also worked as a senior advisor in the Obama White House from 2009 until 2011, when he departed to begin work on the president's re-election campaign. Despite his time in Washington, Axelrod always has kept a home base in Chicago.

Now, Axelrod appears to have decided to trade up. The new seven-room unit he purchased first had been listed as part of an estate sale last May for $2.25 million, and was reduced to $1.9 million in November. Features in the 42nd-floor unit include views to the south and east, including of the lake. The unit also has 4-1/2 baths, a marble foyer, his and hers baths in the master suite and one garage space.

Axelrod closed on the purchase on Mar. 15. The agent representing him in the transaction, Debbie Baren of Koenig & Strey, declined to comment on the purchase.

A former Chicago Tribune political reporter, Axelrod long has lived in Streeterville. He previously paid $950,000 in 2002 for a 46th-floor condo unit in that neighborhood. That unit is not currently on the market.